


A Bump in the Road

by TiaJuh, tooralooryeaye



Category: Hanson (Band)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Brothers, Emotional Constipation, Family Feels, Hanson - MOE Era, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:34:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21814516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiaJuh/pseuds/TiaJuh, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tooralooryeaye/pseuds/tooralooryeaye
Summary: In an alternate universe, 3CG has the wise idea to put those god-forsaken snowglobes on sale instead of sending the boys on the Wintry Mix tour. Zac bumps his head and Taylor can't deal, because he can't deal withanything.
Relationships: Taylor Hanson/Zac Hanson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 1





	A Bump in the Road

“Jessie, have you seen the nail gun?” 

“Fucking Uline, they never answer the damn phone!” 

“LANGUAGE.”

“We have a stream in three hours! Taylor, can this wait until tomorrow?”

“No, Ike, we have to get this order _mailed_ by tomorrow but we’re missing the gift boxes!”

“Jessie!”

“She’s _busy_ , Ike. Look for it yourself!”

A long stream of muffled invective warbled from the administration office, accented by slamming cabinets. 

“I think she agrees.” 

“Well, whose fault was it to approve vacation time _after_ two people went on maternity leave?”

“I’m not having this conversation.”

Taylor sighed and leaned against the back wall of the front hallway. He dipped his head in his hands, phone forgotten on the couch. The rhythmic thuds of Isaac’s hammering echoed inside his head. At least two office phones were ringing, punctuated by their sister’s deceptively patient tone as she answered each line. 

Two more days. Just two. And then the office would finally close for the holiday. That is, of course, if they could manage to get these goddamn snowglobes shipped out before then. Zac offered the brilliant idea at the last operations meeting to set some novelty items and accessories on clearance that had been collecting dust in the warehouse. Maybe it coincided with the massive order of “Zaccidents Happen” shirts he’d placed, blowing their budget like a Bruckheimer film.

 _Right._ Think, _Tay. Prioritize._

Ike was right. They had a Livestream in a few hours and not only did the studio look like a disaster, but everyone was wound up tighter than a two-dollar watch and if any of them were going to survive it, things had to get under control and testosterone levels needed to drop—fast. 

Taylor slipped into the studio. Ike perched on a ladder, oversized hammer swinging at a strand of garland along the ceiling edge. Taylor frowned, suspecting it wouldn’t even be in-frame. He breathed in. The refreshing fragrance of the live pine tree had a calming effect.

“Okay. Let’s think. Isaac, what all needs to be done before the set is ready?”

Ike growled, low and guttural. He swung a thankfully hammer-less hand toward a piece of paper resting on the piano. “Look at the list. I’ve only started on the third line,” he muttered. His voice was stiff and muffled around the nails stuffed in his mouth.

Taylor picked up the paper and whistled under his breath. The to-do list was lengthy but doable; however, getting the studio to match the mock-up in the photo, with lush garlands wrapped around everything and tinsel sprinkled everywhere…not to mention the lights...

“Let me go rope in Zac and we’ll get this done and ready, okay?”

Isaac whipped his head around to glare, with a set jaw and his heavy brow furrowed. Taylor raised his hands in self-defense. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. Just give me a few minutes and we’ll get this done.”

Jessica was less pleased with the change of plans when Taylor explained to her, as gently as he could (presented with a frothy cappuccino he crafted himself with 3CG’s own La Marzocco Mini) that he would have to “borrow” Zac earlier than planned, and wouldn’t be returned the rest of that day. She towered over the printer, arms akimbo. Her eyes darted between the coffee offering, Taylor, and the commotion in the back. 

Taylor shrank back under her glare: he could take on his brothers if they tripped the wrong nerve, but he’d never dare get on the wrong side of any of his sisters, especially this one. For a moment he re-lived that terrifying moment when their mother discovered he “accidentally” gave five-year-old Zac a haircut.

“We’ll all be here tomorrow morning, first thing, to get the orders ready for pickup. I promise.” Taylor didn’t actually know whether he could actually deliver it, but right now the intent was all that mattered. The cappuccino remained in his outstretched palm.

“You don’t even know where everything is!” And she grabbed the coffee. Offering accepted. 

Taylor went to rub her shoulders in thanks but recoiled at her warning growl. He patted the corner of her desk instead. “I’ll—one of us will check in with you before you leave so we know when to be here...tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow.” 

“One hundred and forty-six orders, Taylor. One hundred. Forty. Six.”

Taylor was already rounding the corner and bee-lining for the warehouse. “Zac!”

The tight corners and narrow pathways muffled the sounds of shifting boxes and Zac’s grunting. The hairs on the back of Taylor’s neck prickled. The poor ventilation and overfilled containers pressed on the very air around him, rushing blood to his head. “ _Zac_!”

A thud and a tinkling around the next corner guided Taylor to Zac’s hiding spot. “I think we oversold these things,” he huffed. Large cases laid out on the floor, shipping peanuts spilling out as Zac dug through the boxes. He muttered under his breath, counting snowglobes. He remained bent at the waist, ass in the air. “I’m not sure we have enough.”

Taylor stared for a long moment, suddenly short of breath. His cheeks flushed and the walls seemed to close in another few inches. He gripped the nearest storage shelf to steady himself. He swallowed, mouth suddenly bone-dry.

“Ike, uh...he um…”

Another crash in the studio as Isaac dropped—or maybe threw—his hammer on the ground. “Am I doing this stream by myself?”

“I took care of it with Jessie. She’ll get started. We’ll finish the rest tomorrow…” Taylor frowned. The words felt heavy in his mouth. 

Zac stood back up and reached deep into a chest-level shelf. A case was wedged in the far corner. “Just let me pull this down for Jessie, then we’ll go.” He tugged and yanked at the box. 

Taylor watched Zac’s shoulders and arms work. A flush crept up his neck and his heart fluttered when Zac grunted with the herculean effort to shift the case toward the front of the shelf. 

When it was just about free of its steel storage cage, teetering on the edge of the shelf, Zac’s face lit up. He looked at Taylor, a light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “Hey, space case. Do you mind making yourself useful, here? I think I know where the last gift boxes are for these things.” He nodded toward the box he held up on its precarious perch. 

“I know where I’ve got a gift box for ya,” Taylor muttered. Zac wouldn’t have heard him if it wasn’t for his gasp when he realized he said it aloud.

“Really, Tay? That’s all you’ve got? That’s worse than a _your-mom_ joke. Help, please?”

Taylor nodded and reached for the case as Zac dipped down underneath to explore another shelf level below. Taylor grossly underestimated the weight of the box. He grunted and groaned as he strained to keep it level. It was too wide for him to lower to the ground by himself and too heavy to wedge back to a safer spot. 

It all happened so fast.

Zac squealed below and shuffled out of the storage abyss; a pack of snowglobe shipping boxes in hand. Ike shouted again from the studio; his voice much louder (closer) this time. Taylor’s phone rang in his back pocket, the vibration and ringtone setting so high it startled him. 

“I found ‘em! I think we’re in busi—”

Before Taylor had time to react, the case slipped from his grip and collided with Zac’s head. Someone yelped; the box hit the floor; Taylor’s phone kept ringing, and Zac was out cold on the concrete. Stale water, wet glitter, and fragments of poured resin exploded from the box, dousing and surrounding Zac’s limp frame on the floor.

“Shit. Oh shit. Oh _shit_ oh shit oh—” Where Taylor’s heart had inexplicably been in his throat minutes before, it now sunk to his stomach. 

* * *

Taylor’s phone kept ringing.

The sound echoed in the sterile waiting room, earning him a dirty look from a nurse at the reception desk. He gave her a small apologetic smile, but didn’t do anything to stop the noise. The phone vibrated in his hands, but they felt numb, so it didn’t matter.

The display flashed the name and picture of his wife, her pretty face smiling at him. Taylor had been talking to people for the last hour, and between the paramedics, the doctors, the nurses and every family member who called trying to know what happened, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it again. He dumbly stared at the phone, waiting for it to stop ringing, when Jessie gently took the phone from him. 

“Let me take this.”

Taylor mumbled a thanks and watched as Jess left the room to answer the call. As the automatic door closed behind her, Taylor stared back at his hands, clenching and unclenching them in a nervous tic. Without the insistent ringing, the only sounds around him was the constant clickety-clack of the nurse’s typing and the tapping of Isaac’s dress shoes on the floor as he paced.

“Ike, please, sit down.” The sound alone was making Taylor dizzy. He heard Isaac stop, then take a couple of steps and sit next to him on the uncomfortable waiting room chair. Taylor felt some blood returning to his hands. Isaac’s solid presence next to him had always been some kind of comfort. At least something was right in the world.

“He’s going to be fine, Tay.” Isaac tapped his thigh and Taylor noticed he had been nervously shaking his leg the whole time. “It was just a bump to his very thick head. Besides, he was conscious. He was cracking jokes to the paramedics. Why are you so worried?”

Taylor had to agree with him. If there was anyone to survive a bump to the head, it had to be Zac. He gave Isaac a brief smile and he seemed satisfied that his words had some effect on his brother, because he patted Taylor’s thigh one more time, before relaxing against the chair.

Taylor rubbed a hand on his face, letting it slide through his hair. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he felt exhausted. It seemed incredible that they had only waited for a couple of hours.

Jessica returned, handing Taylor his phone back to him, before taking the other empty seat by his side.

“Talked to Nat. She said Kate is going to drop the kids off at your place, before she comes here.”

Taylor nodded. It was usually how things happened in this family. They helped each other out. For a brief moment Taylor thought how it probably sucked to be Zac’s wife. Always having to worry what dangerous thing he would do next, what new inventive way he would find to injure himself. Then again, it was what Taylor himself did day and night, ever since Zac learned how to walk. He wasn’t sure what this said about himself.

“Don’t you have to go, Jess?” Isaac’s question brought him back to the waiting room and Taylor was glad for the interruption. He didn’t like where his thoughts were leading him.

“No. Mom has the kids. They knew I’d be working all day anyway.”

“Does mom know?” Taylor hadn’t stopped to think about their parents until now.

“No, we’re waiting until we have some news.”

As though Isaac’s words were magic, a doctor approached them. 

The three siblings got up, anxiously crowding the doctor. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. Taylor suddenly had a taste of how their fans felt. Then she smiled, and he felt his heart unclenching a little bit.

“You’re Zachary Hanson’s family, right?” She asked politely and they all nodded in confirmation. “I’m Doctor Jones.”

“How is he?” Isaac spoke and Taylor was thankful for him taking the lead this time. He didn’t trust himself to speak at that moment. He felt Jessica take his hand, interlacing their fingers, and he had never been happier his parents decided to give him six siblings.

“I’d like to do a CT and keep him overnight to rule out concussion,” Dr. Jones leafed through the chart. “Especially so soon after what seems to be a… motorcycle crash?” She smiled at them. Isaac nodded to confirm. His mouth was set, but his face pale. “But even if he’s concussed, unless something shows up, he’s cognizant and not showing any major symptoms.”

Taylor released a sigh. Jessica squeezed his hand. 

“We’re admitting him and you’ll be able to speak to him after he’s done with radiology.” The doctor finished with a smile and excused herself.

“I’m very happy we won’t have to find a new drummer for Christmas.” Isaac joked. Jess laughed but Taylor was still absorbing what the doctor had said. He didn’t realize how worried he was until there was nothing to worry about anymore. 

Taylor felt restless all of sudden. He absently scrolled on his phone as Isaac and Jessica embraced. The calendar app opened; he realized it had been exactly eleven weeks Zac’s last visit to this same emergency room. 

Taylor wanted to feel the same as his siblings, but right now, he just wanted to yell at someone. Deciding he couldn’t stay there any longer, he walked towards the exit.

“Tay? Where are you going?”

Taylor ignored her and kept walking, letting the automatic door close behind him.


End file.
